FPB 64 Grey Wolf is starting a summer of arctic cruising. Making a direct passage from Scotland, she is currently less than a day out from Svalbard, well inside the arctic circle at 74 degrees shown in the graphic above. Read the rest »

The ultimate survival storm tactic, jogging into breaking seas, has had its first (and hopefully last) FPB test. This took place recently off the Needles near the Isle of Wight in the UK’s Solent. Read the rest »

With the FPB 64 Grey Wolf covering an average of a thousand or more nautical miles per week on her voyage home, we have in effect an accelerated maintenance test to observe. Experienced cruisers and marine professionals will be surprised by the data accumulated since her departure from New Zealand the last week of March. Read the rest »

Of the ten FPBs currently afloat, nine are actively cruising, taking advantage of their seagoing speed, range, and comfort, actually doing it…right. We enjoy hearing from our family, keeping up with where they are and what is going on. This week, for example, Read the rest »

FPB 64-3 Iron Lady is Canada bound from Hawaii, a relatively short 2400 NM (+/-) trip, depending on how the Pacific high treats them. Pete Rossin is filling us in on weather and vessel performance data. Information from the last five days follows: Read the rest »

Passaging season is upon us and the FPB fleet is on the move. While FPB 64-6 Grey Wolf nears the end of a quick 4000 NM hop, FPB 64-3 Iron Lady is on her way from Hawaii to British Columbia. The majority of the rest of the FPB feet is getting ready for or have recently completed their offshore passages.

Peter Watson and his intrepid crew aboard FPB 64-6 Grey Wolf are now just a few days’ from Panama. Keep up with their progress on Berthon’s web site. Of particular interest may be Peter’s comments after now having voyaged over 6,000 nm in the last two months.

Of all the passages you could dream up, the most difficult is the 4000NM eastbound run from the Marquesas Islands of French Polynesia to Panama. Panama lies dead upwind, with a westerly setting current to make it more interesting. Read on to find out how FPB 64-6 Grey Wolf, Peter Watson, and crew have set out to do something no motor yacht has ever done.

The passage between New Zealand and French Polynesia is one of the more difficult ocean crossing endeavors. At 2200 miles along the great circle route, it can often be as long as 2600 or more nautical miles depending on weather routing. John and Amanda Neal bill this as a heavy weather passage in their sail training business, and for good reason. FPB 64-6 Grey Wolf is on standby, waiting for a weather scenario that offers decent odds. Read the rest »

Having arrived back to the Seattle office a couple weeks ago, I now have a little time to sort through 100s of photos and share a few with you from my recent adventures aboard FPB 64-3 Iron Lady… Read the rest »

Mark Fritzer reports in from Palmyra, and brings us up to date on wonderful snorkeling and further experimentation with the high powered DC charging system. With comments on navigating with active SONAR in the tropics:

Having consulted the weather gods (Rick Shema), and with various mortals, the good ship Iron Lady is bound for Palmyra Island. Mark Fritzer continues his narrative, with interesting fuel burn data at various speeds and RPMs coupled with varying electrical loads.

On their fourth day at sea, the crew of FPB 64-3 Iron Lady use the aft deck sink to determine if they have crossed the Equator. Mark Fritzer continues his testing and analysis, and reports the results:

The following report was sent in by Mark Fritzer of the FPB team, who is crewing aboard FPB 64-3 Iron Lady. They have just departed from Nuka Hiva in the Marquesas Islands, bound for Hawaii via the Line Islands. Read the rest »

Those of you familiar with our work will know that we consider being able to maintain comparatively fast cruising speeds the mostimportant factor in safe, comfortable ocean crossing. Get this right and you enjoy making passages. Get it wrong and you will prefer sitting at the dock reading about the folks who are really out there cruising. Read the rest »

FPB 64-3 Iron Lady continues towards Papeete, and Skipper Pete gives us a heads up on what they log in the engine room. If you are interested in life aboard on a long passage, and how things should be running, read on.

FPB 64-3, Iron Lady, has now passed the mystical “halfway point” on her voyage to Papeete. She is entrained between two high pressure systems, in a convergence zone, with heavy downpours, lightning, and crossing wave trains off the bow. For the day’s report on this, and the raw squid eating contest, read on. Read the rest »

Iron Lady is on her way across the South Pacific from Whangarei, New Zealand to Papeete, Tahiti, in French Polynesia. Pete Rossin and crew departed New Zealand three days ago and have been sending us periodic updates. We thought you might like to keep track of their progress on this occasionally difficult 2300NM passage.